North Korea: Take a 3D tour of one of the world's most isolated countries

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Photos:3DPRK exhibition photos

Koryo Studio Exhibition – 3DPRK is a collaborative 3D photography and documentary film project between photographer Matjaž Tančič and Beijing-based Koryo Studio, which specializes in North Korean art. Visitors to the exhibition in Pyongyang, were given 3D glasses to view the works.

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Photos:3DPRK exhibition photos

Matjaž Tančič in North Korea – Tančič was introduced to school children, teachers, farmers, factory workers, hospital staff and workers in leisure parks. Here, he is pictured with bartenders in a restaurant. Tančič provides anecdotes for photos featured in this gallery.

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Photos:3DPRK exhibition photos

Kang Hyon A, 13, with accordion teacher Myong Ju, 38, at Kaesong Schoolchildrens Palace – "Everyone sees the super talented kids playing accordions, or guitars, in North Korea. So I expected it, but this girl was really amazing -- she was playing traditional music but it sounded like she was playing underground jazz from New York City ... Every time I think about it, I still get goosebumps," says Tančič.

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Photos:3DPRK exhibition photos

Ri Gyong Sun, 45, at the Maintaining Ancient History section of the Pyongyang Folklore Park – "This was taken at a park in Pyongyang where they have [famous] sites but in miniature. This lady took care of the greenery in the area. I asked her to stand up next to the miniature library. But she said she could not have her photo taken with her higher than the leaders in the photo. So I asked if she could kneel down, and she said yes."

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Photos:3DPRK exhibition photos

Yu Hyol Sim, 20, swimmer, at the Munsu Wading Complex – "This was in a swimming complex, called the Wading Complex, in Pyongyang. Brand new, super modern, highest standard of everything. I was super lucky to shoot a female swimmer in this funny, interesting swimsuit."

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Pak Mi Hyang, 20, 1st Dan, and Ra Kyong Hun, 22, 2nd Dan, at the Taekwondo Stadium – "They are youth champions from North Korea who travel round Asia doing competitions. In front of the sports hall there is a statue of a guy performing a kick in mid-air ... I asked them to recreate this and managed to shoot him doing the perfect kick."

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Photos:3DPRK exhibition photos

Pak Un Ju, 23, packer, at the Pyongsong Food Factory – "At this factory in the middle of the cornfields, this factory worker is also a farmer in the fields. They grow corn and harvest it, then they use it to make cookies, alcohol and noodles. [She] told me it was the first time she'd seen the machines working, that they'd had electricity."

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O Kyong Ju, 16, and Cha Gum Song, 15, at Kim Jong Suk Middle School – "Two kids in a biology classroom with all the taxidermy animals - it was just an amazing place, amazing natural light coming from the windows, great shot."

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Photos:3DPRK exhibition photos

Li Won Sik, 49, teacher, at the Electronics Club Classroom, Kaesong Schoolchildren's Palace – "This is in the same school: they were in technology class with lots of televisions. The [students] were learning how these things work."

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Photos:3DPRK exhibition photos

Guide, Pueblo 'spy ship' – "This is on a confiscated American ship from the 1960s, it's called Pueblo. It's an interesting story as they captured it, a spy ship. This was the guide showing us around and telling us what they found."

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Photos:3DPRK exhibition photos

Ri Yong Gi, 42, water regulator, at the Chonsamri Co-operative Farm – "He is the chief regulator of this watering system ... He looks the perfect role model of a socialist hero: with the wind in his jacket and proud face, amazing."

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Won Il Myong, 38, furnace worker, at the Chollima Steelworks – "The second biggest steel factory in North Korea, this was a place I was proud to be able to visit -- it was really deep in the countryside. I got lost along the way, and came to this huge complex and it was dark, with this furnace burning. Then they presented me this guy who is super clean, a beautiful young guy. It's an amazing contrast to the factory, which is dark and dirty."

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Photos:3DPRK exhibition photos

Guide, Tonghungsan Park, Hamhung – "Anywhere we went there was first a guide who presented, for example, the history of the factory, then showed us the museum of the factory, and then we could go and meet the real people. I just love this photo because he was so tall and because his clothes are so graphic and match perfectly the columns surrounding him. Otherwise, I tried to avoid shooting guides as everyone else who goes to North Korea sees them."

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Photos:3DPRK exhibition photos

Sin Sae Chol, 57, X-ray doctor, at the Mammography, Maternity Hospital Oncology Centre – "This was one of the places that was really stereotypically North Korean and the only place I felt that they were taking us for idiots. It was completely new marble, huge plasma screens, everyone there was young and beautiful, all the machines, everything was brand new and amazing. This was really lying to your face ... But after walking through the entire fakeness of this hospital, I managed to meet one interesting character. The room was quite nicely decorated with homemade stuff, so I took a portrait of him."

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Ri Yong Min, 21, 52kg boxing champion, at the Amnokgang Sports Team, Outdoor Ice Rink – "He really wanted me to take his photo. I was not keen as he was too happy ... but we started to talk and had a nice conversation. But when I took the photo he was the moodiest, the most powerful, the strongest image, completely different from the experience of how I met him. This was at the ice skating rink - nice place, lots of couples holding hands."

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Photos:3DPRK exhibition photos

Koryo Studio Exhibition – Koryo Studio -- the first Western art gallery to commission, exhibit and sell work by artists living and working in North Korea -- held an exhibition of Tančič's work at the Chollima House of Culture, in the capital of Pyongyang.

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Koryo Studio Exhibition – Attendees included members of foreign diplomatic missions in Pyongyang, as well as locals invited by the Korea International Travel Company and the Korea Cities Federation.

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Koryo Studio Exhibition – The event was covered extensively in the North Korean media, and according to Koryo Studio "many hundreds of local Koreans" visited the event.

Story highlights

Photos part of 3DPRK, an exhibition and documentary film sponsored by Koryo Studio

The 3DPRK photo exhibition was shown in Pyongyang and is currently on tour in China

This weekend, the photos will be on display as part of a fundraiser for Tančič's next project focusing on refugees

(CNN)In a country known for its collective thought, the individual is rarely brought into the spotlight.

Slovenian photographer Matjaž Tančič wanted to change that.

"Every time you hear about North Korea, it is propaganda or anti-propaganda, workers in the fields or military marches. I wanted to show the complete opposite. I wanted to shoot real people, individuals with a name, a face," he says.

For Tančič, the best way to do that was to shoot in 3D -- one of his specialties, and a very popular format in North Korea, where the project would be shown first.

"3D makes the individual even more enhanced. You can see each detail of the clothing, and become a voyeur, observing the space around the person."

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'Like a Wes Anderson movie'

Matjaž Tančič met with local bartenders during his trip

Tančič was invited into North Korea in 2014, for a 10-day tour around the country. The trip was organized and co-funded by Koryo Studio, the first Western art gallery to commission, exhibit and sell work by artists living and working in North Korea.

"It was like traveling back in time, it was like a Wes Anderson movie. But then you see mobile phones, and plasma TVs, and you realize it is the present day," he says.

Tančič's surreal journey was aimed at documenting some of the everyday people who make up the reclusive nation: the bartenders, doctors, farmers and factory workers.

For Tančič, who lives in Beijing, it also became personal, having been born into the Communist state of what was then called Yugoslavia in Europe.

"If Americans see groups marching to the field with red flags and accordions, it must seem completely alien. But for me, it reminds me of pictures I saw when I was young. What I saw became intertwined with my own memories."

Exhibition shown in Pyongyang

As well as negotiating the cultural challenges, Tančič was also trying to shoot complicated 3D stereoscopic images.

"You have to trick your brain into thinking it is looking at two angles, by using two cameras connected with a tripod," Tančič says.

"You can also shoot with one camera, then move and shoot again at the correct distance. I often had to use this technique in North Korea, because I didn't have time to set up. I just told people to breathe in and try to stay still," he says.

To the naked eye, the subjects in the photos stand out against what appears to be a slightly blurred background.

A visitor observes a 3D photo at the 3DPRK exhibition in Pyongyang, North Korea

But when they are viewed with 3D glasses, it all becomes clear: the people look hyper-real, the background is sharp, and the viewer feels almost immersed in the scene.

The portraits were exhibited in Pyongyang last September, one of the first western exhibitions to be shown inside North Korea.

Vicky Mohieddeen from Koryo Studio, who produced the project, said she wanted to bring a format well known in North Korea up to date.

"North Korea has a history of 3D: in its postcards, lenticular prints, holographic images. You don't see it much anymore, but we wanted to bring it back with a new perspective," Mohieddeen says.

The landmark production, which is now on display in Beijing, is expected to open the door for more foreign art exhibitions in North Korea. Koryo Tour, part of the same company as Koryo Studio, is also offering packages for foreigners to enter the Pyongyang marathon in April.

"The government is sending a message that the country is opening up," Tančic says. "A lot of people in North Korea are still suffering, but having a cultural interaction with foreigners will help the country progress."

3DPRK will be on display in Shanghai at M on the Bund. Tančic is looking to crowdfund his next project, "Heros", focused on the refugee crisis in the Mediterranean. More information can be found here.